1. Background of in-Line Hockey
In the latter part of the 19th century, ice hockey is said to have been first played on frozen ponds or lakes, with two stones frozen on each opposite end. As many as thirty players on each side would use sticks of wood with flat blades to try to score a goal by getting a puck in between the two stones. The popularity of the sport spread from North American to other continents. Ice hockey rules were eventually standardized, calling for five players and a goalie to represent each opposing team in the ice rink at a time.
Early ice hockey players yearned to continue playing the “on-ice” sport even when warmer weather melted their ice rinks. Consequently, and due to the invention of quad roller skates (comprising two wheels in front, two wheels in back), the game of roller hockey was developed. Quad roller skates had their limitations, however, such as not allowing players to move with the same speed as “on-ice” play. Roller hockey rules attempted to compensate for these differences by, among other changes, requiring that the game be played with four players and a goalie at a time (per team), to allow for more freedom of movement.
Over the ensuing decades, the game of roller hockey gained popularity culminating in 1984, when an improved alternative to quad roller skates came about with the filing of a patent for “inline” skates: “boots equipped with longitudinally aligned rollers used for skating.” Inline skates allowed hockey players to more closely simulate the “on-ice” feel than quad roller skates by allowing, for example, greater maneuverability and speed. Due to the advantages of inline skates over quad roller skates, inline hockey has since become more popular than roller hockey in the U.S.
2. Background of Hockey Goalie Leg Protective Members
Although inline skates helped replicate the “on-ice” feel for most inline hockey players, there was no similar advancement in technology applicable to hockey goalies playing on dry surfaces. This was probably at least in part due to the fact that the techniques and on-ice movements of ice hockey goalies, and the related designs of their leg protective members, have significantly evolved since inline skates were created and started gaining popularity.
Specifically, older styles of hockey goalie leg protective members were tightly strapped to the legs. The goalie using this older style of protective members, to block pucks from entering the goal, would go straight from a standing position to a kneeling position. In so doing, the face of the leg protective members above the knees would remain facing outward towards the shooter. Below the knees, however, the face of the leg protective members would be parallel with, and face directly towards, the ice surface. In other words, hockey goalies using older goalie technique and styles of leg protective members did not rotate their legs, and leg protective members were designed accordingly. Since such a non-rotating, reactionary, movement would not leave exposed much (if any) of the goalie's inner legs, the designs of older styles of goalie leg protective members did not include much padding protecting the inner legs.
Starting around 2000, however, “box” style leg protective members became popular as goaltending playing technique evolved from a reacting style to a “blocking” style. Specifically, instead of simply reacting to a shot on goal by kneeling straight down from a standing position, in modern hockey play a goalie will prevent a puck from entering the goal (among other techniques) by using leg protective members to maximize the blocking area of the lower part of a goal. This modern “blocking” technique is accomplished by simultaneously kneeling and extending the part of the legs below the knees away from the body, with the inner part of the lower legs facing the surface and both lower legs pointing in opposite directions (the legs together essentially forming an upside down “T”). This position is colloquially referred to as the “butterfly” position.
Since a hockey goalie in the “butterfly” position can maximize blocking area by keeping the face of the protective member perpendicular with the ice surface, the design of goalie leg protective members evolved into more of a “box” style, where the edge between a face of the protective member and the inside edge is square-shaped. Thus, the modern box style of hockey goalie leg protective member anticipates that the pad may move or rotate from a vertical position (when the goalie is standing) to a horizontal position, when the goalie is in a kneeling (or rather in the “butterfly”) position. In this manner, all of a “face” of the leg protective member may be directed straight towards the shooter, rather than the ice.
Thus, modern hockey goalie leg protective members are designed with padding in the inner knee and inner calf/shin areas, which padded areas are called “landings” or “wraps.” Such padding softens impact in the primary locations where much of the goalie's body weight may fall when transitioning from the standing to kneeling position. “Landings” are not only intended to soften impact, but also to allow a goalie to move over an ice surface in a fluid manner.
3. Description of Prior Art
There is a need for some apparatus that would allow a hockey goalie's motion during play on a dry surface to simulate “on-ice” motion. A hockey goalie playing on a dry surface may often have to repeat a standing and the kneeling movement in order to achieve certain positions that might otherwise be attained more quickly and easily on an ice surface. Such excessive and potentially burdensome movements can lead to undue exertion, pain, stress, and injury to a goalie's knees, hips and lower back. Furthermore, the added concentration and time necessary to perform blocking movements on a dry surface can make the difference between blocking and failing to block a puck from entering the goal.
In the prior art, there are no apparatuses utilizing rolling means that sufficiently allow a hockey goalie to simulate the motion experienced on an ice surface, on a dry surface, especially when the goalie is moving to or is in a kneeling or “butterfly position.” Additionally, there is also a need in the market for such an apparatus that can attach to existing protective leg members, without a hockey goalie having to purchase a separate set of hockey goalie leg protective members made specifically for play on a dry surface. This need is felt not only by hockey goalies for hockey play on a dry surface but is also felt by ice hockey goalies, who may lack access to an ice hockey rink for training purposes, yet wish to train on a dry surface.